a. [f. the name of the inventor, N. B. Ward + -IAN.] In Wardian case, a close-fitting case with glass sides and top for growing small ferns and other moisture-loving plants.
1842. D. Moore, Lett. N. B. Ward, 1 Feb., in Ward, Growth of Plants in Gl. Cases, App. 91. I find all the species of ferns to grow well either in glazed Wardian cases, under hand-lights, or in close frames.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 230. Many of the Alpines may also be successfully grown in Wardian cases.
1877. Encycl. Brit., VI. 642/1. The writer has kept the Cenobita Diogenes from the Antilles, tenanting an Achatina shell, alive in a Wardian case for three months.
